The Media
The term news media refers to the groups that communicate information and news to
people. Most Americans get their information about government from the news media
because it would be impossible to gather all the news themselves. Media outlets have
responded to the increasing reliance of Americans on television and the Internet by making
the news even more readily available to people. There are three main types of news media:
print media, broadcast media, and the Internet.
Print Media
The oldest media forms are newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters, and other
printed material. These publications are collectively known as the print media. Although
print media readership has declined in the last few decades, many Americans still read a
newspaper every day or a newsmagazine on a regular basis. The influence of print media is
therefore significant. Regular readers of print media tend to be more likely to be politically
active.
The print media is responsible for more reporting than other news sources. Many news
reports on television, for example, are merely follow-up stories about news that first
appeared in newspapers. The top American newspapers, such as the New York Times, the
Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, often set the agenda for many other media
sources.
Broadcast Media
Broadcast media are news reports broadcast via radio and television. Television news is
hugely important in the United States because more Americans get their news from
television broadcasts than from any other source.
Television News
The main broadcast networks—ABC, CBS, and NBC—each have a news division that
broadcasts a nightly news show. For the past fifty years, most Americans watched one or
more of these broadcasts. Since the 1980s, however, cable news channels have chipped
away at the broadcast networks. CNN and MSNBC both broadcast news around the clock.
Because the cable news channels are always broadcasting news programs, many people
who want to follow a story closely tune in to these stations first. The relatively new Fox
network news program has also drawn numerous viewers away from the big three
networks.
Radio News
The other type of broadcast media is radio. Before the advent of television in the 1950s,
most Americans relied on radio broadcasts for their news. Although fewer Americans rely
on radio as their primary news source, many people still listen to radio news every day,
especially during morning and evening commutes. Local news stations have a particularly
large audience because they can report on local weather, traffic, and events.
The Internet
The Internet is slowly transforming the news media because more Americans are relying
on online sources of news instead of traditional print and broadcast media. Americans surf
the sites of more traditional media outlets, such as NBC and CNN, but also turn to unique
online news sources such as weblogs. Websites can provide text, audio, and video
information, all of the ways traditional media are transmitted. The web also allows for a
more interactive approach by allowing people to personally tailor the news they receive via
personalized web portals, newsgroups, podcasts, and RSS feeds.
Weblogs—known colloquially as blogs—have become very influential since the start of the
twenty-first century. Leading bloggers write their opinions on a variety of issues, and
thousands of people respond on message boards. Although many blogs are highly partisan
and inaccurate, a few have been instrumental in breaking big stories.
The Medium Is the Message
Media scholar Marshall McLuhan once said that “the medium is the message.” He meant
that the medium, or manner, through which the message is transmitted shapes the
meaning of the message. Different types of media have different strengths and weaknesses,
and how people perceive a story depends on how they receive it. For example, television is
primarily a visual media. Strong pictures and video affect television viewers more than
words, and pictures convey emotion better than arguments or discussion. Television
viewers, therefore, are more likely to remember how a story made them feel than the
actual details of the story. Print media, in contrast, are better than visual media at
communicating details and information. An average newspaper story, for example, contains
substantially more facts than a comparable television story. This is not to say that
television news is inferior to print media; the two media simply communicate information
differently.
Example: A debate in 1960 between presidential candidates Richard Nixon and John F.
Kennedy demonstrated that the medium truly is the message. Many people listened to the
debate on the radio, whereas others watched it on television. Although a majority of radio
listeners felt that Nixon had won the debate, a majority of television viewers thought that
Kennedy had won.
Functions of the Media
The media has immense power within the American democracy because just about all
Americans get their news from the media rather than from other people or other sources.
Media coverage shapes how Americans perceive the world and what they consider to be
important. Voters and politicians alike must pay attention to the media. In the American
political system, the media perform a number of functions important to the democratic
process. The media reports the news, serves as an intermediary between the government
and the people, helps determine which issues should be discussed, and keeps people
actively involved in society and politics.
Reporting the News
Perhaps the most important role of the media in politics is to report the news. As noted
above, the vast majority of people must trust the media to provide them with information.
Democracy requires that citizens be informed because they must be able to make educated
voting choices.
Types of Reporting
For much of American history (until the early twentieth century), most news media were
clearly and openly biased. Many newspapers, for example, were simply the voices of the
political parties. This type of journalism is called partisan journalism. Other newspapers
practiced yellow journalism, reporting shocking and sordid stories in order to attract
readers and sell more papers. Objective reporting (also called descriptive reporting) did
not appear until the early twentieth century. Newspaper publishers such as Adolph Ochs of
the New York Times championed objective journalism and praised reporters for simply
reporting the facts. Although most journalists today still practice objective journalism,
more and more are beginning to analyze and interpret the material they present, a practice
called interpretive reporting.
Being the Common Carrier
The media plays a common-carrier role by providing a line of communication between
the government and the people. This communication goes both ways: The people learn
about what the government is doing, and the government learns from the media what the
public is thinking.
Setting the Agenda
Journalists cannot report on an infinite number of stories, so they must choose which are
the most newsworthy. By choosing which stories to present to the public, the news media
helps determine the most important issues; in other words, the journalists set the agenda.
Agenda-setting is crucial because it shapes which issues will be debated in public.
Sometimes political scientists refer to agenda-setting as signaling because the media
signals which stories are the most important when they decide what to report.
Pack Journalism
Critics allege that journalists often copy one another without doing their own investigating.
When one newspaper runs a story, for example, many others will run similar stories soon
afterward. Critics refer to this tendency as pack journalism.
Acting as the Public Representative
The media sometimes acts as a public representative by holding government officials
accountable on behalf of the people. Many people argue that the media is ill equipped to
play this role because the media does not face the same type of accountability that
politicians face. Serving as the representative of the public, moreover, could undermine the
media’s objectivity because the act of representing the people might require reporters to
take a position on an issue.
Example: The classic example of watchdog journalism, or activist reporting that attempts
to hold government officials and institutions accountable for their actions, is the Watergate
investigations of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. The Washington Post reporters
doggedly pursued allegations of campaign misdeeds and presidential crimes despite the
fact that many Americans did not care. Journalists have exposed many other government
scandals and misdeeds, including the Iran-Contra affair and the Lewinsky scandal.
Attack Journalism
Since the Watergate scandal brought down a president, investigative journalism has
become more prestigious, and many reporters try to make a career around uncovering
scandals. Some people complain, though, that all reporters want to be the new Woodward
or Bernstein, interested only in breaking the next big story. These critics say that
investigative journalism has become attack journalism: Journalists only care about
bringing down a prominent person, not about the truth or the common good. Critics of
attack journalism believe that President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998 was the result
of attack journalism and partisan politics. The rise of attack journalism has brought to light
questions about the proper role of journalism.
Socializing People
In the United States, the media plays a big role in socializing people to American society,
culture, and politics. Much of what young people and immigrants learn about American
culture and politics comes from magazines, radio shows, and television. Many people worry
that young people are exposed to too much violence and sex in the media, knowing the
effect it will have on children’s views and development.
Providing a Political Forum
The media also provides a public forum for debates between political leaders. During
campaigns, opposing candidates often broadcast advertisements and debate with each
other on television. Many voters learn a great deal about the candidates and the issues by
watching these ads and debates. Even during years without elections, though, the news
media allows elected official to explain their actions via news stories and interviews.
Government Regulation of the Media
Even though the Constitution guarantees freedom of the press, the government does
regulate some media. Print media are largely unregulated, and newspapers and magazines
can print nearly anything as long as they don’t slander anyone. The Internet has also gone
largely unregulated, despite congressional efforts to restrict some controversial content.
Broadcast media, however, are subject to the most government regulation. Radio and
television broadcasters must obtain a license from the government because, according to
American law, the public owns the airwaves. The Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) issues these licenses and is in charge of regulating the airwaves.
Media Doctrines
The FCC has also established rules for broadcasts concerning political campaigns:

The equal time rule, which states that broadcasters must provide equal broadcast
time to all candidates for a particular office.

The right of rebuttal, which requires broadcasters to provide an opportunity for
candidates to respond to criticisms made against them. A station cannot air an
attack on a candidate and fail to give the target of the attack a chance to respond.

The fairness doctrine, which states that a broadcaster who airs a controversial
program must provide time to air opposing views.
The FCC has not enforced the fairness doctrine since 1985, and some allege that the FCC
has taken a lax approach to enforcing the other rules as well.
Media Consolidation
The government has also regulated ownership of media outlets to ensure that no one
broadcaster monopolizes the market. Since the 1980s, however, the government has
loosened restrictions on media ownership, and Congress passed the Telecommunications
Act in 1996 to allow companies to own even more media outlets.
Due to the loosening of ownership restrictions, more and more media outlets are falling
under the control of a few giant corporations, a tendency called media consolidation. The
Hearst, Knight Ridder, and Gannett corporations own most of the nation’s newspapers,
whereas Clear Channel Communications owns many radio stations. Large companies also
own the major networks and other television stations. The Walt Disney corporation, for
example, owns ABC and ESPN, along with the Disney Channel, and Viacom owns CBS and
MTV. Rupert Murdoch’s Media Corporation, meanwhile, owns all of the Fox channels,
several radio networks, satellite television providers, and newspapers in many countries.
And Time-Warner owns dozens of magazines, including Time, Life, and Sports Illustrated, as
well as the CNN and Turner television networks.
Critics of Media Consolidation
Critics contend that media consolidation limits consumers’ choices because a small number
of companies own all the media outlets. They argue that consolidation is not competitive
and that corporate owners might restrict or manipulate news coverage. Some critics also
lament the homogenization of American culture due to media consolidation. Because radio
and television formats have become increasingly uniform, people throughout the country
receive the same broadcasts.